I am looking to upgrade my camera... I'm hoping some of you on here will see this board and maybe give me suggestions. I am looking at the Canon EOS Rebel XS... I want a camera like that. I need a camera with a good zoom (for closeups as well as some further away shots) and a fast shutter speed so I can grab the pictures fast! I currently have just a basic digital camera- Nikon Coolpix L18.. I dropped it and the inside LCD screen shattered. It still works and I've liked it as a nice little pocket cam, but if you've ever seen the kinds of pictures I do with landscapes, closeups of flowers, pics of animals etc... I need something that doesn't take 5 minutes to power up, focus on the subject and me having to hold my hand perfectly still so it doesn't blur.

Also I don't use a flash. I think it ruins picture. I take the majority of my pictures using the sun light. So I need a camera that can handle that too.

Thanks.. hopefully I can get a few good suggestions. I don't really even know where to start. A few people have just said to start off with the entry level Rebel.

Thanks Aslan. My price range would be 400-600$ or so. It will be for my birthday so I'm asking my family to just pitch in and buy me one nice gift instead of a bunch of little random things. I'm turning 18 this year so I think I should be able to ask for a big gift

I bought a great Nikon D40, and I LOVE my Camera. Here are a few example shots I've taken with it of flowers over the two years of owning it; and I'm not very camera saavy. It did this work all on it's own, to give you a better idea of what it can do in a beginners hands.

The lens that comes with it is great, but I also went ahead and bought the 200x lens, which is great for taking farther shots and bringing them closer.

The camera itself cost me $750, not sure if that's too much for your price range, but I highly reccomend it if you're looking for something easy to learn and yet extremly good.

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Kathryn, I too am looking to get a good camera for myself, same idea as the one you want. I liked this site http://www.digital-photography-tips.net. When you go to the site, there is a list of other things on the site on the left hand side, go to Comparison Guide. It takes youthrough diffent steps to help you decide, not exactly which camera, but what you want in a camera, and then you can narrow your search down. It also explains what a lot of those extras are, and how to figure out which camera is better.

Marko I do take photography seriously now.. I've always loved to take pictures of everything but I've never had a very good camera. My little (broken) camera I have now is just a basic point and shoot. My friend who is a photographer has been helping me pick a camera out and basically told me to just get the Canon Rebel to start off. she has a very expensive Canon DSLR worth about $2,000... but she needs it as photography is how she makes her money.

I don't have any plans to be a photographer... but i can't tell you how many times my dinky camera has missed a great shot because it wouldn't turn on fast enough, would focus or just zoomed to the wrong thing. I do get some great pictures from it but for every good picture I get I get about 10 that completely suck and are out of focus

I got my hands on some kind of nice camera recently and I turned it on, took the picture I was asked to take and it .. it just worked! It didn't have to pause to focus and blink and tell me all the errors.. I just aimed and clicked!

Definitely go with a DSLR, then. Most of them, no matter how many other bells and whistles come with them, have a basic automatic point-and-shoot capability. Makes it very nice to be able to capture nice shots even while you're still figuring out all the features by reading the manual. The problem for me was getting so busy experimenting that after a few weeks I found myself with 495 images to print. (Yes, I'm very album oriented.... )

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Also I don't use a flash. I think it ruins picture. I take the majority of my pictures using the sun light. So I need a camera that can handle that too.

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Learn to love your flash for this reason alone . . . . infill of shadows when you are shooting toward a subject backlit by the sun. I use a flash all the time on sunny days.

If you are looking at an entry level DSLR, then costs are going to rise accordingly as you begin to accumulate different lenses. It's the right way to go eventually but just be aware that you're probably looking at more than $600 to have a good spectrum of range.

Although I beat it to death until it eventually gave up, an alternative was an electronic option, the Panasonic DMC FZ20 (I think that is what it was called) which now has leapt several versions ahead. Basically, the step below the DSLR. There are no interchangeable lenses, just one lense but capable of macro through to 420 mm (too much fuzziness at the longer end but maybe the newer versions are better). A lot of great pictures came out of that camera although stopping action for sports wasn't necessarily the best. But the price might be in your range for a step up from what you have now. Other companies would have similar versions for you to consider. You're probably looking at about $800 to $900.

Still, as others have suggested, SLR is the way to go if you're prepared for the expense of building your system.

Below, an example of both using flash to fill in shadows (note the direction of Keeper's shadow but no shadow on herself) and one of the pitfalls of an DSLR (a hard to clean dirty interior of the camera from changing lenses which leads to spots on your image).

Thanks Rick C. I'm going to start off simple and see what happens.. I really just am too frustrated with the kind of camera I have now that takes it's time to turn on and everything. My friend Jennie has shown me some things about cameras but I never knew how complicated it really is!

I'll let everyone know what I end up doing.. I asked for a new camera for my birthday and well, we'll see what happens...

Kathryn.
We have the Rebel XS dslr .. It is an amazing camera for being an "entry level" dslr. You can take some amazing pictures right out of the box and it is pretty easy to use right from the start. There are a lot of advanced features on it that will take some time and patience to learn, but that is ok.

The addition of a zoom lens adds about $350 or so to the cost so be prepared for that. We just got our lens shortly before our vacation in August. My wife finds that she uses it far more than the standard lens that comes standard with the camera.

A good idea with whichever one you do decide on is to check with your local camera shop. Some will offer a classes on using the camera. Well worth the time.